In additional to our 100th Anniversary, we are so excited that our beloved Oklahoma! –the biggest hit we ever produced—is returning to Broadway! This will be the sixth time since we opened the musical at the St. James Theatre in 1943 that it has appeared on Broadway.

Previews will begin March 19, 2019 and it will open April 7th at the Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street). It will be a limited run, closing on September 01, 2019.

Tickets are not currently available, but will be released January 05, 2019. Click on the picture above for more information.

Best,
Philip & Marilyn

PS–if you’re interested in reading more about Oklahoma!‘s history, here are a handful of our posts over the years:

Our favorite comparison, which we remember well, is when the Broadway ticket prices skyrocketed from $4.80 to $5.75. Can you believe that the producers were terribly worried that Broadway would crumble at that sharp increase in ticket prices!!!!

At any rate, those $5.75 tickets would cost $80.68 today (based on the inflation rate). This $80.86 price is two-thirds of the current ticket price, which seems to be holding steady at $125.00 per ticket.

We find it interesting that in those days we felt that Broadway might come to an end because there were only so many seats in a theatre, whereas most other goods and services could expand to meet the higher demand.

All our worries were unfounded because Broadway is flourishing, both in terms of average ticket price and number of viewers going to shows. Who knew?!?

To Kill A Mockingbird is currently in previews and opens on December 13, 2018. It is adapted to the stage by the talented Aaron Sorkin, directed by Bartlett Sher, and stars Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch and LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Calpurnia. One of the biggest surprises in the cast is the decision to cast Scout and Jem as adults (played by Celia Keenan-Bolger and Will Pullen respectively) rather than children.

This is the first time To Kill A Mockingbird has been present in the theatre and you do not want to miss out on the amazing opportunity to see it. It is playing at the Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44th Street) and you can purchase your tickets by clicking here.

Today we’d like to tell you about an exciting Theatre Guild happening that took place on Broadway in 1919.

Actors’ Equity Association was formed by Broadway actors in 1913. After they were formed, they started approaching theatrical producers to arrange contracts for their actors with each of them. The producers and Equity were not able to come to an agreement–with one notable exception–and in 1919 the Broadway actors decided to strike.

Happily The Theatre Guild was that one notable exception who chose to recognize Actors’ Equity and agree to a contract. The result was that The Theatre Guild was the only producer with a play running on Broadway during the strike.

The play was John Fergusonrunning at the Fulton Theatre on 46th Street, and it became a huge sell-out lasting for six months!

According to my father, Lawrence, “I was looking for a play for us to produce and I picked a book off the shelf—little thinking that I held the future of the new Theatre Guild in my hand! It was just the play we were looking for! My fellow Board members were all as excited about the play as I was and we decided to produce it at once.”

Wasn’t it fortuitous that The Guild had a sensible reaction to actors on Broadway wanting to have a union, and what a happy result!

The other night we saw one of our favorite musicals on television: Showboat.

This film was produced in 1951, starring Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, and Howard Keel and directed by George Sidney. It was based on the original Broadway musical written by Oscar Hammerstein II with music by Jerome Kern. It tells the story of late 19th century hijinks aboard a Mississippi River show boat. It features some of Broadway’s greatest show tunes including Ol’ Man River, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man, and Make Believe.

This musical is so superb that it makes us want to discuss the importance of theatre in our lives. We seldom think about it, but what if, at 5:30pm every night after a day of work, we simply had dinner and went to bed? Our workdays are usually not very spiritual or uplifting, so it is at nighttime and weekends that we get to observe and participate in the “finer things in life,” as in “what are we living for?” So this film says it all!

It’s wonderful and we’re so glad to have seen it on television! If you want to see it, it is available to watch via streaming or to purchase on Amazon (click here )

We wanted to send you one last reminder that a reading of our new play, Adoption Roulette, will be performed at The Theatre for the New City (155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets) on October 08, 2018 at 7:00pm.

To read more about Adoption Roulette—the true story of Elizabeth Fuller’s experience adopting a child from Russia, our wonderful performers, and The Theatre for the New City, click here.

Tickets for the reading are $5 suggested donation at the box office. The Monday, October 8th performance starts at 7pm, but the theatre suggests arriving between 6:00-6:30pm.

We are excited to announce that our reading of Adoption Roulette at The Theatre for the New City (155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets) on October 08, 2018 at 7:00pm will star both the actors/writers, Elizabeth Fuller and Joel Vig, and our new star, Sachi Parker, acclaimed theatre and film actress and only child of show biz icon Shirley MacLaine.

Elizabeth Fuller

Sachi Parker

Joel Vig

Sachi Parker began her film career working with director Burt Reynolds on the film Stick. Other notable films include Back To The Future, Riders to The Sea, Peggy Sue Got Married, and Scrooged. Parker recently completed All Me, All The Time with Keir Dullea. Ms. Parker’s theatre work includes The Lulu Plays, My Cup Runneth Over, Pastorale, The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, and The Three Sisters.

To read more about Adoption Roulette—the true story of Elizabeth Fuller’s experience adopting a child from Russia, our wonderful performers, and The Theatre for the New City, click here.

Tickets for the reading are $5 suggested donation at the box office. The Monday, October 8th performance starts at 7pm, but the theatre suggests arriving between 6:00-6:30pm.

As we told you last week, our new Broadway bound play Adoption Roulette, is booked to perform a reading at The Theatre for the New City on October 08, 2018.

The reading with the authors/stars Elizabeth Fuller and Joel Vig will be held in their Johnson Theatre at 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets). It will begin at 7:00pm and the audience is asked to be there by 6:30pm.

Admission is a minimum suggestion donation of $5 at the box office when you visit on the day of the performance.

Elizabeth Fuller has written ten published books. She is an Op-Ed contributor to the New York Times. She is the playwright of Me and Jezebel which she first wrote as a book. In 2015, Me and Jezebel won best play by Broadway.com. The New York Times called it “Delicious. Great fun to watch!” The play has performed worldwide and the book is optioned for a movie.

Joel Vig created six starring roles in Broadway’s Hairspray, which won 8 Tony awards including Best Musical. Mr. Vig also created the title role in the cult Off-Broadway musical Ruthless!, which won Best Musical honors. Mr. Vig has written plays that have played both in New York and around the country. Joel won the Judges’ Choice award in the non-fiction writing contest sponsored by Barnes and Noble and Dans Papers in East Hampton in August, 2017.

Exciting news! We just received word that we will be performing a reading of our new play, Adoption Roulette written by Elizabeth Fuller and Joel Vig, on October 8th at The Theatre for the New City!

We are still waiting on the specific details of performance time and in which of the four theatres we will be performing. As soon as we have those details we will pass them along, so you can purchase your tickets!

Authors Elizabeth and Joel will be performing the reading and we could not be any more excited by this, as we are still raving about their performance we saw in June!
Stay tuned for more details and in the meantime, save the date 10/08/2018!